No "Shaky" Short Term but Inadvisable Long Term
We can eschew shaking hands for the sake of covid-19 mitigation short term but, as a biologist, I think we have evolved to inoculate ourselves with low doses of pathogens obtained through close human contact. This is essential to our survival AS A SPECIES. If you take a human and, at birth, put him in a bubble and give him sterilized food, that person will die within days if not hours when exposed to a normal environment. But, the thing is, this need to prime our immune systems is neverending (that's why Bill Gates hopes to remain top capitalist by one day supplying the world with vaccines). Other animals get their "immunizations" through the ingestion of feces, licking of paws, or through their food which they do not wash before consuming. Even in birth, many animals get their first dose of motherly probiotics when they "first see the light."
Shaking unwashed hands is natures way of vacinating. You may object that "I can do my own vaccinating, thank you." You can probably succeed for the short term but your fellow humans travel far and wide and can bring the pathogens to you that you may not encounter in your own backyard but will encounter once you venture out of your own backyard. That handshake provides probably a lower dosage of pathogen than you might encounter elsewhere but that low dose is enough to ensure you'll be ready for a larger dose. It's not perfect, some do die but, for the species, it's needed.
Viruses that are spread by hand-to-hand contact are very probably weakened by several factors: hand pH; sequestration by hand oils plus UV light, heat, and salt; microbes that consume viral particles but that can still prime the human immune system with viral antigens that are not wholly consumed. It is to be noted that the commonly known deadlier viruses are spread by direct exchange of bodily fluids. I don't have the data yet but with regard to covid-19, I would think that the airborne virus is deadlier or, at least, more contagious than the hand-to-hand-to-face spread. We should note that the senior in the nursing home isn't shaking hands with anyone. Someone mobile, came to the home and sneezed or coughed the airborne virus. (as I've posted earlier, the senior has a poor ability to develop a fever and a fever is necessary not only to kill some pathogens but, more importantly, to give immune cells their "marching orders.").
Interestingly, humans have even a behaviour to prevent taking on too many pathogens when shaking hands. It has been shown that people smell their hands seemingly subconsciously and surreptitiously after shaking hands with someone. This, I believe was very beneficial before the days of toilet paper when you wanted to know if that other hand you just shook may have had a "mishap" while answering nature's call. Now, that problem wouldn't have happened with the enterprising Romans who used a coin-like object mounted at the end of a stick to scrape away the dingle berries. Not to worry, they stuck the implement in a vessel of salt water for the next person.
Shaking unwashed hands is natures way of vacinating. You may object that "I can do my own vaccinating, thank you." You can probably succeed for the short term but your fellow humans travel far and wide and can bring the pathogens to you that you may not encounter in your own backyard but will encounter once you venture out of your own backyard. That handshake provides probably a lower dosage of pathogen than you might encounter elsewhere but that low dose is enough to ensure you'll be ready for a larger dose. It's not perfect, some do die but, for the species, it's needed.
Viruses that are spread by hand-to-hand contact are very probably weakened by several factors: hand pH; sequestration by hand oils plus UV light, heat, and salt; microbes that consume viral particles but that can still prime the human immune system with viral antigens that are not wholly consumed. It is to be noted that the commonly known deadlier viruses are spread by direct exchange of bodily fluids. I don't have the data yet but with regard to covid-19, I would think that the airborne virus is deadlier or, at least, more contagious than the hand-to-hand-to-face spread. We should note that the senior in the nursing home isn't shaking hands with anyone. Someone mobile, came to the home and sneezed or coughed the airborne virus. (as I've posted earlier, the senior has a poor ability to develop a fever and a fever is necessary not only to kill some pathogens but, more importantly, to give immune cells their "marching orders.").
Interestingly, humans have even a behaviour to prevent taking on too many pathogens when shaking hands. It has been shown that people smell their hands seemingly subconsciously and surreptitiously after shaking hands with someone. This, I believe was very beneficial before the days of toilet paper when you wanted to know if that other hand you just shook may have had a "mishap" while answering nature's call. Now, that problem wouldn't have happened with the enterprising Romans who used a coin-like object mounted at the end of a stick to scrape away the dingle berries. Not to worry, they stuck the implement in a vessel of salt water for the next person.
Comments
Post a Comment